In the past few years, the island’s heritage railways have seen an upsurge in the number of passengers and the work by staff and transport chiefs must be applauded, but behind them are a dedicated group of volunteers who provide support and expertise to enhance the experience.

This week reporter Sam Turton met with volunteer co-ordinator of the Heritage Railway Volunteers Mike Buttell at Port Erin’s railway museum to discuss the work the volunteers do.

Volunteers got involved when they were asked by transport chiefs to help out with the heritage transport weekends and have since taken on more roles within the system including updating the museum, running shed tours, trips on the closed lines and even a running commentary for the cruise ship visitors who travel on the dining train.

Mike said: ’The volunteers were brought in to help out with events and then the management asked us if we wanted to look at the museum and see if we could do anything different and we said "yes we certainly can".

’The museum has been open since 1975 and while it has had a few refurbishments, the last was over 20 years ago and was starting to look a tad unloved so I think we’ve certainly changed that.’

The changes have included introducing displays about the northern line, which celebrated its 140th anniversary this year and a dedication to the Marquess of Ailsa.

The seventh Marquess (a Scottish peerage) of Ailsa Archibald Kennedy ran the railways on a lease from 1967 to 1972 and is credited with saving the island’s steam railway.

The displays were largely created using research from books written about the island’s steam trains and from photographs provided by supporters and fans of the railway.

Mike added: ’Most of our members have a wide collection of photographs and we’ve had a significant amount of albums given to us that we’ve plundered a little bit to make these displays.’

He explained that the volunteers are able to help out on event days as they can spend time talking to people interested in the history of the railways, ensuring the staff can continue working and operating the lines.

’We have time to stand and talk to people, which those who are employed to work on the railway just don’t have time to do as they’re busy running the trains or selling tickets and everything else. They just don’t have time to stand and talk.

’So this is where we come into our own, we do have that time to talk to people and share our knowledge.’

The volunteers currently have about 20 members which Mike said has grown as they’ve taken on more roles with the trains, but he would like to see that number continue to rise.

One of those newer roles includes giving talks on board the dining car train when the railway hosts cruise visitors.

’The volunteers were asked to provide commentaries on the dining trains for the cruise ships. We’ve had to come out of our shell a little bit as we’ve got to include a bit of history about the island as well as the railways,’ he said.

’So we had a few thinking sessions and thought what we could do, but our members enjoy them and we’ve had complimentary comments from the tourists who seems to have enjoyed the talks as well.’

Mike said while the volunteers contribute a significant amount to the railways, the success of the heritage lines comes from the management.

He said: ’The management in place have got to grips with getting local people involved and supporting events like Island at War. We can’t just rely on the tourists, we have to keep local people interested and involved and the current management have done that.’

Anyone wanting to know more about the volunteers can email [email protected] or search Isle of Man Heritage Railway Volunteers - Steam Railway on Facebook.